This blog chronicles my year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow

David Jackson, a Chicago Native, is one of the Nieman Fellows this year

Last Sunday, after Convocation, David Jackson, sweating and panting, walked into the Lippmann House and wanted me to pick up his book bag. I did and it had to be a good 50 pounds. There were a couple of shopping bags nearby. David had carried all of these bags on his bicycle from the grocery store. David does a lot of things on his bike. During our first week in town, he got a citation for riding his bike carrying a trashcan. David was carrying all of that food because instead of catering his Sounding dinner, he was gonna cook instead. We would learn in his Sounding that in David’s former life, he was a chef. That he was and still is a classical guitar player. That he once walked around Chicago wearing a sandwich board for a journalism project. But David, who works for The Chicago Tribune, is also one of the best investigative reporters in the country. So unassuming is David. I occasionally see him around Cambridge on his bike or run into him in the Science Center’s cafeteria. One of the nicest guys I have ever met. But don’t mess up in Chicago. Lord knows how many people David has gotten convicted or put in jail behind his in-depth reporting. He has exposed corruption, taken on the Nation of Islam and broke the story on Tony Resko and his dealings with Barack Obama. One thing that David did not tell us is that he has been a Pulitzer finalist at least three times and took home the prize in 1998.